This is a sign of a great coach, not the opposite. The team just had their asses handed to them. What do you expect Harbaugh to do? Throw them a party? Instead he schedules an afternoon practice in pads right before a holiday and a bye. Its genius. He basically challenges them to step up and they did. We're 4-0 since then with 3 of those wins coming on the road (where we're not supposed to be winning games).

He scheduled a practice with pads and the end result was they didn't practice in pads though

The message: if you openly challenge harbaugh's authority you win.

Wrong. They've been practicing in pads for weeks now. According to you all the players have to do is cross their arms and pout and they don't have to practice. Obviously that's not the case, is it?_________________

It really is though. The coach tells you to do something, and you do it.

Obviously the guys in the locker room have a problem with the way Harbs does things. Whether we are winning NOW or not, it's gonna catch up eventually.

No it's not. The players aren't inmates. They're not children. They're valuable and they have options. That "I'm the coach everything is my way" crap doesn't fly. Look at the Giants. When did they win a Super Bowl? When Coughlin eased up a bit.

Exactly. There's a give and take. Harbaugh, by all accounts, is neither a pushover nor an authoritarian. Continously striving to find that balance where you can treat your players like adults without letting them railroad you is one of the biggest challenges a coach faces, and it's pretty clear that Harbaugh has done nothing but foster the right kind of environment in his time in Baltimore. But I guess 5 straight winning seasons aren't enough when an article suggests you may have had a team meeting to hash things out once.

OH MY GAWD JOHN HARBAUGH IS SUCH A PUSHOVER HE TALKS THINGS OUT WITH HIS PLAYERS AND THEN WINS 4 STRAIGHT GAMES AND WE KEEP WINNING AND WE ARE SO DOOMED WITH THIS GUY_________________

When I first saw the headline of this article yesterday, I thought, ‘oh, another internet reporter bashing the Ravens’ but then when I actually read it, realised that it’s about as positive an article for John Harbaugh and his team as there could be at this moment in time.

The players were pissed off after the Texans loss? Good. I was too. I want to see that sort of attitude from them, even if it’s channelled into complaining about practice. I would have expected Owings Mills to be a grim place after that game, and it seems like it was. Briefly.

And I think it’s healthy for players to air their grievances, if the environment is conducive to it. Seems to me that Harbaugh decided it would benefit the team for them to vent at him, about everything they were unhappy about, and I would guess that he gave them a few home truths as well. That’s a sign of respect, if you ask me. And the fact that the Ravens have gone on to win four in a row since, and seem completely united? Well that tells me they respect their coach too.

I think this team has changed a lot since 2008, and it always seems apparent on the sideline and in press conferences that the players do respect and genuinely like Harbs. He doesn’t act like a disapproving father, a method that worked for coaches in the past, but nor does he act like he’s just one of the boys. He seems to have a manner that lets you know he’s in charge without being an [inappropriate/removed] about it.

Of course, if people want to twist it into him being weak because he didn’t stomp around and throw things until the players all ran away and called their agents to say ‘get me out of Baltimore’, then whatever. You don’t have to be scared of someone to respect them. I think that’s a fact that plenty of coaches have failed to grasp in the past.

Someone asked earlier in the thread whether people thought Ray Lewis was there, and I don’t think he was. The Ravens have been oddly careful about stating that he was “rehabbing at home” or “not in the facility” until a week or two ago, and at the time I thought it was odd that Harbs was so specific about that. I wonder if he was saying it with this incident in mind, in case there was some fallout from it. Not that I think Ray is some sort of warden, keeping the other players under John Harbaugh’s thumb, but I don’t see him as a guy who would say anything in front of his teammates.

I'm sure not all issues have been completely settled, because I doubt that all of the guys in that locker room will ever respect Cam Cameron, who is definitely Harbaugh's guy. But it is what it is, and so far it seems to be working._________________

It really is though. The coach tells you to do something, and you do it.

Obviously the guys in the locker room have a problem with the way Harbs does things. Whether we are winning NOW or not, it's gonna catch up eventually.

That kind of attitude probably works most of the time in the college/high school levels but not with adults. It's not like Harbaugh has "lost" the team or that the players have discipline issues. In fact I think that this has been the most disciplined Ravens team in Harbaugh's tenure as head coach.

When I first saw the headline of this article yesterday, I thought, ‘oh, another internet reporter bashing the Ravens’ but then when I actually read it, realised that it’s about as positive an article for John Harbaugh and his team as there could be at this moment in time.

The players were pissed off after the Texans loss? Good. I was too. I want to see that sort of attitude from them, even if it’s channelled into complaining about practice. I would have expected Owings Mills to be a grim place after that game, and it seems like it was. Briefly.

And I think it’s healthy for players to air their grievances, if the environment is conducive to it. Seems to me that Harbaugh decided it would benefit the team for them to vent at him, about everything they were unhappy about, and I would guess that he gave them a few home truths as well. That’s a sign of respect, if you ask me. And the fact that the Ravens have gone on to win four in a row since, and seem completely united? Well that tells me they respect their coach too.

I think this team has changed a lot since 2008, and it always seems apparent on the sideline and in press conferences that the players do respect and genuinely like Harbs. He doesn’t act like a disapproving father, a method that worked for coaches in the past, but nor does he act like he’s just one of the boys. He seems to have a manner that lets you know he’s in charge without being an [inappropriate/removed] about it.

Of course, if people want to twist it into him being weak because he didn’t stomp around and throw things until the players all ran away and called their agents to say ‘get me out of Baltimore’, then whatever. You don’t have to be scared of someone to respect them. I think that’s a fact that plenty of coaches have failed to grasp in the past.

Someone asked earlier in the thread whether people thought Ray Lewis was there, and I don’t think he was. The Ravens have been oddly careful about stating that he was “rehabbing at home” or “not in the facility” until a week or two ago, and at the time I thought it was odd that Harbs was so specific about that. I wonder if he was saying it with this incident in mind, in case there was some fallout from it. Not that I think Ray is some sort of warden, keeping the other players under John Harbaugh’s thumb, but I don’t see him as a guy who would say anything in front of his teammates.

I'm sure not all issues have been completely settled, because I doubt that all of the guys in that locker room will ever respect Cam Cameron, who is definitely Harbaugh's guy. But it is what it is, and so far it seems to be working.

Very well said. Were there a rep system, you would receive some from me._________________

When I first saw the headline of this article yesterday, I thought, ‘oh, another internet reporter bashing the Ravens’ but then when I actually read it, realised that it’s about as positive an article for John Harbaugh and his team as there could be at this moment in time.

The players were pissed off after the Texans loss? Good. I was too. I want to see that sort of attitude from them, even if it’s channelled into complaining about practice. I would have expected Owings Mills to be a grim place after that game, and it seems like it was. Briefly.

And I think it’s healthy for players to air their grievances, if the environment is conducive to it. Seems to me that Harbaugh decided it would benefit the team for them to vent at him, about everything they were unhappy about, and I would guess that he gave them a few home truths as well. That’s a sign of respect, if you ask me. And the fact that the Ravens have gone on to win four in a row since, and seem completely united? Well that tells me they respect their coach too.

I think this team has changed a lot since 2008, and it always seems apparent on the sideline and in press conferences that the players do respect and genuinely like Harbs. He doesn’t act like a disapproving father, a method that worked for coaches in the past, but nor does he act like he’s just one of the boys. He seems to have a manner that lets you know he’s in charge without being an [inappropriate/removed] about it.

Of course, if people want to twist it into him being weak because he didn’t stomp around and throw things until the players all ran away and called their agents to say ‘get me out of Baltimore’, then whatever. You don’t have to be scared of someone to respect them. I think that’s a fact that plenty of coaches have failed to grasp in the past.

Someone asked earlier in the thread whether people thought Ray Lewis was there, and I don’t think he was. The Ravens have been oddly careful about stating that he was “rehabbing at home” or “not in the facility” until a week or two ago, and at the time I thought it was odd that Harbs was so specific about that. I wonder if he was saying it with this incident in mind, in case there was some fallout from it. Not that I think Ray is some sort of warden, keeping the other players under John Harbaugh’s thumb, but I don’t see him as a guy who would say anything in front of his teammates.

I'm sure not all issues have been completely settled, because I doubt that all of the guys in that locker room will ever respect Cam Cameron, who is definitely Harbaugh's guy. But it is what it is, and so far it seems to be working.

Very well said. Were there a rep system, you would receive some from me.

Agreed. Shared my thoughts on the Lewis situation almost to a tee. I had been meaning to state that, but kept falling short on time... And he did a much better job of outlining it than I likely would have to boot. Excellent post indeed._________________